The Pub Discussion Board

Eric, I have questions relating to how divination and blocking magic interact.  When an impediveur is using blocking magic, are they also able to detect that the divination magic is being used?  How does detection work in relation to strength in these cases?

My thoughts are as follows:  David is a very strong diviner, but as you said he must exceed the strength of the impediveur in order to successfully “blockbust.†  If he matches strength can he create an object that 1) indicates the truthfulness of a speaker, 2) doesn’t alert the impediveur that divination is being used in this manner and 3) can also indicate that a reading is not possible due to being blocked?

Additionally, we have to remember that David has found that he is getting less and less tolerant and is also getting more and more aggressive it his reactions with Olissa being the only one that can truly calm him.  He already reacted... poorly... to betrayal.  If such a device as I inquired about above could be created, David has one, and he asks people about what Dailey claimed, and it goes off I don’t know that he would not “force-feed† even the Dean, Sam, or Cat a truth potion.  Each of the 3 have at least one school of magic that they excel in that might counter ONE way that David has of learning the truth, but David is DANGEROUS as hell to liars.  The guy has all the skills needed to utterly dominate in counter-intelligence and anti-spycraft.  Even if the Dean was in on this at the beginning and if she is as “mercenary† as Dailey lead us and David to believe, Emile would have seen the “writing on the wall† back in year 4 or 5 and have already set up a get-away plan or is prepped (with Dailey now dead) to throw herself on the “mercy of the court† and confess all she can to David once she is confronted.

True mercenary types survive at nigh-any cost since you cannot spend what you make when you are dead.  Now, I know that ghosts TECHNICALLY could, but would need a whole lot of help to get true access to their riches after they cross-over.

I have my theories on how the series will wrap-up, but suffice it to say I do not believe that Dean Lengel is guilty of  betrayal of David.

Great chapter Eric. Due to a series of family situations, I’m only now getting around to reading it. Had several theories on who Dailey was (most centering around the Savolar family) and it comes as no real surprise that I was wrong. Any chance of a hint on when the Savolars will show again? I surely can’t be the only one eagerly awaiting when we find out what the magistrate and Douglas Savolar meant in their statements at the close of the W4 January hearing.
“Mr. Savolar, you obviously entered into the situation with malicious intent. I am not going to punish your victim just because he happens to be a better wizard than you are. Let it be a lesson to you that actions have consequences, no matter who your father is...
"You may have won this battle, Stroud," Mr. Savolar said, "but you will never be a true wizard."

Oh guess I was thinking about it to much. Thanks

...why would David care about that?  Hell, he forced Olissa to watch him and Sam once...  I'm thinking David's reaction to that would be more along the lines of, "If you're really that curious, I can give you first-hand experience..."



Eric Storm

Cherise and Christa notwithstanding, has David ever shown a resistance to sexual interest from a female?  Keeping in mind his resistance toward Cherise was because she was crazy, and toward Christa is about who her father is.

Eric Storm

Another reason for letting David in is because she believes in giving people a chance, and because she knows that if someone doesn't take a chance on him, he will spend the rest of Callamandia's existence stuck in a prison cell, without having DONE anything worthy of that kind of sentence.  Not everybody only does things that advance their careers.

Eric Storm

Administrative note:  I should make you change your screen name.  "L337 SP34K" is not permitted on this website.  Just consider yourself warned.

There has never actually been a "no spoilers" rule on this forum.

I am trying to think up a way to implement a "prm discussion" tag for the next version of the website, so people without PRM access won't see those posts until the right time, but it's a tricky thing to implement.

Eric Storm

Some reason it shouldn't?

Eric Storm

Question - now that David has made the Dailey family unable to produce male heirs, what happens to the demighosts currently trapped (like Jacob) once the final male Dailey dies? Will the trapped demighosts still be trapped or will the curse run out and they'd be set free? I can only imagne the damage a bunch of pissed off, suddenly freed demighosts would cause...

Instead of their anger, what you should be worried about is that they've been BORED for the last several hundred years, and are going to be looking to have some fun.

Eric Storm

I really don't think Jacob would ask that of David, and would it really take 150 years? I guess I could see that if they used some type of potion or spell to extend their life, I didn't think of that as I started writing this, so I guess I sorta, kinda, maybe half-way answered part of this. One thing I can think of is that we (more than likely) never really know what happens, and I say this because so far the timeline of the story is linear and I don't really see Eric jumping that far ahead at the end of year 8. One thing I hope for, especially since Eric has made some mentions of it, is for more stories to come in the world of Dugerra, and maybe we will find out more as time goes on.....it's something to look forward to at least.

Eric,
Love the whole demi ghosts will be released thing after all male heirs to Lord Dailey are dead...but did the Daileys have no daughters? As a Geneologist i know there are branches of my family that had no sons, but even without the same last name we can all claim decendance from the same person. For instance my Grandmothers Father was Herman Tolksdorf, my Grandmother married a man with the last name Chappelle, their daughter married a man with the last name Bond. Does the last name really mean I am any less of a decendant of Herman than my cousin Glenn, who has the last name Tolksdorff? Just playing Devils advocate here.

Josh.Bond wrote:

Does the last name really mean I am any less of a decendant of Herman than my cousin Glenn, who has the last name Tolksdorff?

In a word, yes.

Let me quote:

Levi Dailey wrote:

Oh... well... technically, you'll only be imprisoned so long as there are male members of the Dailey family alive.  But really, once that stops being the truth, who cares what happens to you?

The spell is specific to the male members of the family, because only a male can be head of the Dailey house.  If there are no more male Daileys, Daileys, not Schmidts who had Dailey ancestors, then the Dailey family has ceased to exist, and the curse ends.

The difference between you and your cousin is that your cousin's lineage is apparently male-derived, and yours is female-derived, as it relates to the Tolksdorff family.  Since the curse in question, and the family in question, is entirely male-centric, a female-derived lineage would be completely meaningless.  You are not, as it relates to this sort of thing, a member of the Tolksdorff family.  You are a member of the Bond family.

If you would wish to extend the "lineage" of the Dailey family to anyone who was in any way related to the Daileys, then let me point out that the entire 7 billion people on the planet can be traced back to what is referred to as a "Most Recent Common Ancestor".  That person may have existed as recently as 3,000 years ago (the exact date is not known), but in no case more than 200,000 years ago.  What this means is that everyone, everywhere, is part of one genealogical family, if you could only dig back far enough.  What this would mean, if we took your concept for the lineage of the Dailey family, is that every person on the planet would have to die off to free the demighosts.... including the demighosts themselves, which isn't even possible.

We know that last names are a completely artificial construct.  When the names were handed out, two brothers could have ended up with different last names, since many last names were trade-related ("Cooper", "Smith", "Baker", "Chandler", etc.).  Thus, it should not be in the slightest surprising that the curse has nothing to do with full lineage, and everything to do with the name Dailey.

Eric Storm